June 18, 2018

Sensors installed at each milking stall identify each cow, test their milk and quickly provide farmers metrics such as protein and fat counts, indicators of disease, hormones that manage reproduction and antibiotic residuals. SomaDetect Inc. of Fredericton, N.B., is preparing to deliver commercial systems this fall that will test milk and use AI to provide insights to maximize a farmer’s profitability, dairy farmers monitor their herds through the “internet of cows.”

Robots can milk cows, pick apples and weed cabbage patches.

Why do we need illegal aliens, again?

"Who's going to pick your lettuce?" Nobody. That'll be done by something that doesn't need Port-A-Potties, lunch breaks, $15 an hour, or crap in the fields. You'll be able to buy Romaine again!

June 09, 2018

The new Skydio R1 uses computer vision and other types of artificial intelligence to fly itself, follow and record a subject down below-- no piloting or camera skills required.

You launch it using a phone app, and once airborne, you target your person of interest. From there on, everything is done autonomously. The drone can dodge any obstacles, so you can film a person running through, say, a forest, and retrieve high-definition footage.

Fortunately, governments, corporations, and malicious individuals won't use the technology, because why would they? Obviously, they'll just be used by ranchers to check out how their cattle are doing, researchers doing mapping projects, and the like.

January 08, 2018

LAS VEGAS — Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, his two sons and a militia member will not face a retrial on charges that they led an armed rebellion against federal agents in 2014.

A federal judge on Monday said the federal prosecutors' conduct was "outrageous" and "violated due process rights" of the defendants.

As the case was dismissed "with prejudice", they cannot be tried again.

Cliven Bundy had remained in jail until the hearing; the judge ordered his immediate release and he walked out of the courthouse shortly after.

Initially, the judge declared a mistrial, but that was before additional evidence of government misconduct emerged.

The mistrial was the latest in a chain of failures by federal prosecutors, who have been unable to secure clear victories against the Bundys and their supporters during three trials in Nevada and another in Oregon.

Prosecutors charged defendants with making false claims about snipers and videos to incite their supporters in the runup to the standoff. But documents that surfaced after the start of the trial last month showed there were tactical teams and multiple video cameras positioned around the ranch.

So under the Obama administration, the BLM, the FBI, and the prosecutors all lied. And they illegally withheld evidence that might have favored the defense. Then they got caught out. Case tossed.

December 30, 2017

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday it has denied a petition by environmental groups to regulate concentrated animal feeding operations like factories under the Clean Air Act.

The EPA decision, posted in the Federal Register, answers a petition filed in 2009 by The Humane Society of the United States and other environmental groups.

The groups sought to bring concentrated animal feeding operations under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act. The section requires stationary sources of air pollution to adopt the “best system” for reducing emissions. The groups said farms with a large number of animals harm human health, poison the environment and cause climate change.

So cow farts are responsible for all of the snow and bitterly cold temperatures in the midwest and east. Alrighty then.

Whatever would we do without HSUS and Sierra Club?

I may do my part to help Save The Planet™ by cooking up some steak for dinner this evening.

December 14, 2017

Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return (FAIRR), an investor network that advises on factory farming, says it is “increasingly probable” that countries will start taxing meat in order to fight climate change.

FAIRR believes that will occur within the next decade. Frankly, the "climate change fighters" would be a lot more believable if they cut back on jetting around the globe to attend conferences, but video-conferences would dramatically reduce the overall potential for ego-stroking.

Researchers say the issue must be addressed if countries are going to stick to the Paris Climate Agreement, the second anniversary of which is being celebrated Tuesday at a summit in Paris.

Oh, good! They're going to have themselves another "summit"! They just had a "conference" in New Orleans, depositing 60,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as they jetted in and then out.

They nod sagely at one another while intoning their views on the climate "crisis" and the need for all of us to reduce our "carbon footprint" - even as they're responsible for far greater emissions than average schmucks like you. As for their meat tax, it's of interest to consider how such a thing might be implemented.

It would likely involve a massive program of indoctrination education, in which schmucks are informed of the health benefits of not eating meat (and of course, this would have to include dairy products as well, because carbon), followed by imposing a meat tax at grocery checkout (followed in due course by a concomitant tax on dairy products down the road). The vegan smug is almost palpable. Surprisingly, as they reduce gas emissions to "fight climate change", they don't seem to be going after cabbage or brussels sprouts.

October 20, 2017

Several sets of warbirds overflew the house this morning, heading toward the Pacific. Unfortunately, not visible due to extensive cloud cover and heavy rain. As my grandfather used to put it, "like a cow pissing on a flat rock". Well, he ran a small dairy farm, so a lot of his bromides tended toward cows.

Anyway, just from the sounds, I'd venture to say there were four F-16s followed by four F-15 Eagles.

I think their training exercises end in about a week, but they've been fun. For me, anyway.

August 25, 2017

PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) - The owner of a controversial mega-dairy in Boardman has been arrested on charges of patronizing a prostitute and possessing methamphetamine. Lost Valley Farm owner Greg te Velde was arrested during a sting in Kennewick, Washington. The Benton County Jail website says he was booked Aug. 19 and is free on bail.

July 20, 2017

I grilled up a rib steak last night, with rosemary and garlic baked potato (you slice the tater thinly, just not all the way through. Then you brush in melted butter and olive oil with rosemary and garlic, and bake at 425 for 45 minutes.) - add a bit of small greens to the plate, and you're good to go. The girls love that stuff.

I just ordered more shares from CrowdCow, which should arrive next week. I like their no-feedlot approach, and the fact that the cattle are locally raised in pastures and permitted grazing areas on federal lands.

June 19, 2017

My CrowdCow order was supposed to arrive last Friday. It didn't. FedEx delivered it this afternoon - in 87 degree heat and in a repackaged box. That didn't look good. It wasn't. CrowdCow flash-freezes and vacuum-packs the meats, and place them in a styro container with dry ice. From Washington state, it should arrive within the day. FedEx really screwed up.

So I sent a note to CrowdCow, noting that $100 or so of beef arrived fully thawed and repackaged, and within an hour got a call back - they're filing a claim with FedEx and sending out a box with the order I'd placed, still 100% grass-fed and finished, free of charge; no shipping charge either. Of course, it'll be from a different ranch, but they're apparently pretty serious about the customer service thing. Unlike FedEx.